If you've ever wondered what Paul Hindemith's music would have sounded like had the composer been born in England rather than Germany, the answer is: like Arnold Cooke's music. The only English student of the great German modernist, Cooke has Hindemith's style down cold: the linear textures, driving rhythms, angular harmonies, restrained colors, reserved emotions, and emphasis on counterpoint over melody are as much a part of the English composer's makeup as his German teacher's. Unfortunately, as this 1975 Lyrita recording with Nicholas Braithwaite leading the London Philharmonic shows, "cold" is the key word. While ably composed and competently shaped, Cooke's Concerto in D for string orchestra from 1948 and his Symphony No. 1 from 1947 sound distinctly uninspired. The proper motions are dutifully gone through -- expositions expose, developments develop, and recapitulations recap -- but the end result is music that resolutely fails to stick in the memory. More appealing is the suite drawn from Cooke's ballet Jabez and the Devil -- slightly ironic, mildly spicy, and much more overtly melodic; the work sounds like an English Copland heavily edited by Hindemith. Braithewaite and the London players do their standard fine job of performing unfamiliar music -- these performances are consistently well-argued and well-played -- but they can't turn derivative music into memorable music. Lyrita's sound is typically cool, clean, and deep.
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